Herd Dynamics

Stories, Observations and Valuable Information

 Higher Order, and How Interesting It Can Be

In observation of my senior couple, I witnessed something I think would be worth addressing. Until I saw it for myself I would never have believed the language between horses can be so concrete, and spoken so clearly from farther distances. Please read on and see what I saw.

I have a senior couple, Miles and Raisen. Raisen is about 27-28 now and Miles is forever 18 (his owner has told me he is 18 for at least 5 years), but really he's about 26-27. These two have been together, now, for about 4 years. Miles rules this relationship with an iron hoof where Raisen is obedient and happily compliant. Sometimes Miles takes his charge too far and not only pushes Raisen around, but will indeed kick her from time to time. I know, the thought and even effort to separate them has been there, but just as soon as I split them, Raisen gets worried and Miles get running around with a very watchful eye. Then when that effort fails, for fear of injury, I have had to reunite them only to have Miles chase Raisen and essentially go after her. That behavior will continue until Miles feels he has reestablished his rule.

Ok, with that background this is what I feel quite privileged to have observed, fore I feel like I will always "learn" from these magnificent animals.

One weekend I had brought two new horses to the farm. The two were already stabled together and knew one another for many years, so they just went out in a five acre field together and grazed like nothing was even new. There wasn't any anxious running or crazy behavior that indicated in any way that these two were struggling to adapt to their new surroundings. But, the other horses seemed to have real issue.

Miles and Raisen were in the paddock next to these two and after some common nose to nose squeals and stomping; they seemed to go about their business. Miles seemed a bit anxious about protecting his claim of Raisen, so instead of running interference AT them, he took a stronger control on Raisen. Several times she had ventured toward the new boys only to have Miles run toward her with a very stallion posture, arching his neck and puffing his chest. Then he would get between Raisen and the fence and run her off. Of course, he would run back AT them to show his strength, but neither of the two new guys acted like he impressed them very much.

Now, I assume Raisen had disobeyed Miles' rules of not mingling with the young men, on the other side of the fence, to the point of his having to make some stricter rules. Here is where I was fascinated. Somehow, Miles was able to keep Raisen in a smaller pen, attached to a field she otherwise had direct access to. He, on the other hand, would go out into the field to check if those two were still in the neighborhood then would go off and graze normally. Miles had her stay in this small, dirt, paddock where she just watched and waited for any indication that she might be allowed out to graze as well. If she questioned Miles too much, by staring over the fence, when she could join him, he would raise his head from grazing and she'd immediately turn and go back to the shed. This went on for a few days.

One day I was watching, as I often did, just leaning on a Dutch door, peering out into the field. I was standing with my husband, telling him all about the days before, and how Miles had such control of Raisen and how mean I thought he was being. Minutes after I had said, "I hope he stops punishing her soon" Miles meandered back into the smaller paddock, stood about ten feet from Raisen, facing her, and in just that look, clearly took her off restriction. He turned to exit back out to the field and she just knew she was allowed to join him. That was SO AMAZING to have gotten to watch. How clear the language was between them, yet not one noise had been uttered. To see him control WHERE she was allowed until HE said otherwise, was just fascinating.

Another point to this story is to show where human intervention would and could have gotten not only the horse but the owner into trouble. It is not only possible, but likely that a sorrowful owner, feeling bad for their horse, would have gone out into the small paddock, taken Raisen by the halter and "led" her out to the field to encourage her to "join" Miles. Not understanding at all that the human just MADE Raisen disobedient and could very well have caused Miles to go after her, stronger than ever, to remind HER that HE is boss. It is OUR instinct to make things fair, but in the world of horses, it's all about order. When we interrupt order, we actually are the reason, more often than not, why our horses get into tussles with other horses. The dominant horse is only seeing the disobedience, not the human intensions to encourage, what appears to be the kid wishfully watching the ball game, to get out there and play.

I think understanding herds and what the dynamics are is so fascinating and valuable, yet so few horse lovers take any interest. I hope to change that one horse lover at a time!

DETECTING ILLNESS THROUGH OBSERVATION OF A HERD

This is more of a health warning than another episode of "UNDERSTANDING HERD DYNAMICS", but understanding herd dynamics sure can help detect an illness in a horse.

Tick Fever has struck my barn twice in the last year. Cowboy had it last fall/winter and Ritz had it yesterday! I have found that this illness presents completely different in individuals, so it might be in your best interest to know a little about this illness which is accompanied by a scary high fever. Ritz had a 105.9 temperature, yet no other real signs of illness and Cowboy had very subtle signs that were more about how he behaved within his herd.

Now, I am not a vet, nor do I play one on TV, but I can offer you my experiences.

COWBOY

Cowboy started doing a few things that caught my attention but not to look for illness, just to notice as strange. I was out fixing fencing, which we all know is an endless project, when I noticed Cowboy was out more buddied up with Bentley. Cowboy is the top leader, yet allows Ritz to be the acting boss when there isn't food in the mix. Bentley is the lowest man in the field of 7, so to see Cowboy buddied up with him caught my attention.

When the horses came in that evening, Cowboy did stand to be brought in as he normally would, in correct order. When it's time to come in, that means food, so he didn't act different to me at that time. Now, when I walked him in, I did notice he was kind of scuffing his front feet, clipping his toe on the ground. He always walked lazy with his hinds, but the front was new. Other than noticing, I didn't investigate for illness at that time.

The next day I noticed, again, how Cowboy was scuffing his toe. This was just a slight scuff, like he wasn't picking his feet up enough, but not so bad to trip. I noticed he seemed low, but not so depressed to investigate for illness yet. Then I observed, again, his hanging out with Bentley. This time though I watched with a more curious attention. Still only being curious, I didn't investigate beyond watching for about 45 minutes. He grazed and moved about normal, just wasn't appearing to be wearing the "Boss" hat, again.

The "bring in" that evening went much like the evening before, so again, I didn't investigate for illness. I did, however, notice what appeared to be fluffy hind legs. I dismissed this observation as it having been chilly and his fur was elevated for his warmth. I didn't investigate the fluffy legs further.

Now, as a side note; Cowboy was eating, drinking, and pooping normal.

The next morning I fed and turned out. This day I noticed more of the scuffing and Cowboy seemed to be feeling a little sorrier for himself than the days before. I also noticed the hind legs were fluffy, but didn't yet make the connection that they shouldn't be fluffy coming from "inside" the stall. I put him out, but within minutes it clicked; his legs shouldn't have been fluffy. I went out and visited with him, feeling down his hind legs and confirmed, he indeed has swelling, not just fluffed up for the chilly weather conditions.

In we went to get the thermometer and confirm there is something to call the vet about. Cowboy had a 102.5 temperature.

The vet arrived, gave him a fever deducing injection and medication to treat "Tick Fever" He was good as new the very next day! You would never know he has been ill. My point of recapping all of my observations, such as the herd dynamic, is to make people more aware of where their horses rank and if something seems dramatically different in terms of who they might hang out with, if they aren't feeling great. I learned, by this, that it can't hurt to check temperatures on horses even with such subtle behavioral changes; I might have caught this a couple days sooner.

RITZ

Ritz looked and acted just fine, looking at him he would not likely have set off any alarms. But this is where knowing your horse sure does come in handy. The reason I stopped to watch my big chestnut baby was because he seemed to be a bit off balance in his stall, as he would move around. He was not falling down wobbly, just like maybe you'd wanna check for hoof soreness. Otherwise, he seemed normal. Ritz was pooping and eating and touching EVERYTHING he could reach with his nose. BUT, he just caught my attention. When I took him out, he climbed the little hill of the isle, that leads to the door he would be turned out of, when I noticed his breathing. Now fly spray is not the best smelling stuff and horses aren't exactly fans of that brand of perfume, so I initially dismissed his breathing as having smelled the fly spray fumes up ahead from the horses that were sprayed just before. Once at the door and the location of the fly spray station, Ritz continued to breath heavy. Now I knew it wasn't about the fly spray and or anxiety about being sprayed, something was wrong.

I handed Ritz off to my husband and briskly located the thermometer. Thank goodness my horses are good about all the medically invasive inconveniences, like thermometers. Of course the first thermometer had a dead battery, but lucky for me I buy in twos. I ran upstairs and retrieved another, strong batteried one and ran back downstairs. My eyes bugged out of my head as I watch the digital numbers race through, 102, 103, 104, 105..... Holy crud!!! It was like watching a time advance in a movie where the arms of the clock race around the clock face. I dismissed myself to go get my phone. You can be guaranteed that I was on the phone with the vet's office leaving my detailed message for the "On Call Vet" to call me back. My next course of action was to get my boy cooled down. I took him outside and put a cold hose on him till the vet arrived.

Upon the arrival of the vet, she came with her tote of goodies and, yep, a thermometer. Even the vet was amazed by his temperature, as he stood calmly playing with the hose water. "Looking at him, you'd never think he had this high of a temperature." After confirming the 105.9 temperature the vet gave him a shot to reduce the fever and then another shot containing medication to treat a tick born fever. Then I was given the instructions for the next 24 hours.

I saw off the vet and proceeded to clean my barn, killing time for the medication to kick in and break that fever. An hour later I took his temperature, 101.5. A half an hour after that, 100.5... yay!!!!

The point of Ritz's story is, know your horse. Take the time to place the care of your horse in the hands of a farm that thoroughly gets to know the horses. Had my boy been at some barns I have known, he would have gone out with a 1/10 degree temperature shy of frying his brain. Scary? You bet! Know your horse, know you trust in your horse's caregiver and never hesitate to take their temperature when they just seem "off".

OBSERVING HERD LANGUAGE AND REALIZING HOW CLEAR IT IS

Oh how I just love watching horses within a herd. The other day I got to watch the most unmistakable interaction between three mares.

One very sassy gray, often mistaken for white, pony was bullying another. She was stomping her hoof, snaking her neck and swishing her tail. A major argument was being had. Well, when she got done saying her peace she swung around and ran backwards toward her nemesis. Of course, that argument was settled, the other mare ran off and the little sassy girl was triumphant!

Meanwhile, there was another pony, appearing to simply be nibbling on the grass, on the other side of little Miss Sassy. Don't even think for a moment that this other pony was doing anything more than pushing the blades of grass around with her nose as she kept a good eye on the situation. "Just keep your head down and mind your own business." is all she was trying to do.

Well, after little Miss held her head up high with her victory, she notice she had another opportunity to really be the one to reckon with this day. She stopped, looked at little Miss innocent and lifted her knee high and stomped her leg over at her, as if to say, "HEY, don't think I don't see you watching me." Then she arched her neck, flexing at the poll, swung her nose strongly at her, clearly saying, "you want some of this?"

Let's just say... She didn't! She ran off to join the other mare at the opposite side of the field.

Now although little Miss Sass was victorious in her mission to be top dog, she was now all alone... Proud of herself, I assure you of that, but alone nonetheless.

It's always so interesting to watch these amazing animals interact. To see just how they communicate their intentions and how evident their emotions really are. I could sit and watch horses all day long. This observation was merely in minutes, but what a story was told.